Before getting started let me say that I couldn’t be happier to have Gina as our interviewee this month. Newer people in the breed probably are familiar with “Poker” but that particular dog, with all his incredible wins, is the proverbial tip of the iceberg when it comes to the decades of consistent and meaningful contributions that GMJ Great Danes has given to our beloved breed. Without further ado, here is this month’s interview… Q. In what year did you obtain your first Great Dane? A. 1969 – a blue Q. Any interesting story about how you obtained your first Great Dane? A. Not really. We were invited to a dinner. I was more interested in their Dane than the food! We already had a German Shepherd. Frank was in school so he put a KABASH on that idea and all of my whining. Within two weeks I brought one home! Q. Have you owned/bred colors other than the AOC’s? A. One fawn from Brucie Mitchell Q. Which of your dogs have been the most meaningful to you? A. My foundation bitch (The Empress von Meistersinger) who was mediocre yet sound and excellent in pedigree & produced nothing but “gold”. Q. Who was the person that was the most influential when you first began learning about the Breed? A. Eva Robinson (Riverwood Ranch) Q. What breeding programs do you most admire? A. The quality I admire most in any breeding program is consistency. Anybody can finish a dog or two. The goal is to be able to “stay” through the years and have everybody recognize your dogs. So, I would have to say… Donna Crane of “Honeylane” and Pat Ciampa of “Maitau”. Q. For the 40 years of my involvement with the breed I have heard the complaints from owners/breeders of “color” about how they are not on a level playing field with the fawns and brindles. I have expressed my opinion on this subject in a previous article for the GD Gallery. I am certain that the readers would like to hear your comments. A. This is not an opinion! This is statistics plain and simple! Of course the playing field is very different. Ignorance of the color standard and its extremes in interpretation cause so many judges to simply “back away”. I won’t expound on this save to say two comments were made recently by all-breed judges regarding Harles in the ring. One was…”she is lovely and I wanted to put her up (?) but is she supposed to have that black leg?” The other: “I REALLY like him but he has a merle patch on his face”??? Q. In today’s show ring what aspects of the breed do you think are the strongest? The weakest? Do you think that these factors are pretty much consistent across the country or are found in isolated areas? A. Over the years heads have improved the most…in any color. On the other hand I am bothered by the importance put on color OVER conformation in certain areas of the country. Q. If you were to mentor a new owner in the breed, which areas would you stress the most? A. Definitely TEMPERAMENT. More Danes are excused for going after a judge, going after other dogs, going after their handler, spooking, cannot be touched, sitting, backing away, freaking even outside the ring at any noise, and growling to get their way. Like a child many are spoiled and undisciplined, having their way at every turn... soon to discover that THEY are the boss of the household. They therefore have no security and have no idea how to behave. The disease of the day is “Mommy-itis”. There are no bad dogs, just bad owners. Are we going to now put our dogs on Ritalin? ‘nuff said… ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q. In recent years the AKC has dramatically increased the educational requirements for individuals wishing to apply for additional breeds. The latest of these is the establishment of ringside mentors by the various parent clubs. In theory this is a positive move. Do you see any benefit from these more comprehensive prerequisites? A. Yes, the concept is excellent. But nothing works if it doesn’t have a good foundation. It ALL depends upon who is doing the mentoring. Q. Any comments you wish to make about the breed? A. For all the newbies, I’d just like to mention…there is no such thing as an overnight success. It is all about devotion, passion, hard work and many years of disappointment and paying your dues. Haste makes only waste, while time and research compiled with heartfelt effort before breeding any dogs is the answer. Study, study, study the pedigrees and what the stud has produced. (Scroll down to view slideshow) |